News Commentary

Fred Reed: Ain’t Nobody Gonna Like It

"Watching the Zimmerman trial, I wonder whether we may not be in for big trouble. Racial hostility is much higher in the United States than it is allowed to appear. In the Twittersphere there is much traffic from blacks, saying that if Zimmerman walks, they will kill him themselves, riot, or kill random whites. On many sites around the web, whites of a sort not found on NPR are saying, 'Bring it on.' This is not your granny’s recipe for domestic tranquility. Let’s not kid ourselves. Race underlies almost everything in this country that spends half its time denouncing racism. This is true of trials, and particularly true of show trials." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFred Reed: Ain’t Nobody Gonna Like It

Bill Bonner: The End of the World As We Know It

"People become 'educators' and never teach a single student. They go on 'disability.' They turn whole industries – defense, health, finance – into vast wealth transfer schemes that produce little or no net benefit for the people they are supposed to serve. In short, zombies consume more than they produce; they are a net negative for society. But Hadas is right about the effects of lower birthrates. They also lower 'growth.' And without substantial growth, life as we have known it will come to an end. Stocks will fall, creditors (bondholders, for example) won't be paid, and governments must cut back on their expenses... or go broke." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: The End of the World As We Know It

Accelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

"Isn’t it shocking that Obama has threatened to change American policy just because Karzai is being difficult? Should a policy that allegedly has fulfilled US vital security interests be drastically altered because of mere personal animosity? Yet we have been down this erratic policy road before. The Obama administration argued that keeping a residual postwar US military force in Iraq was vitally necessary, only to nix a settlement when the Iraqi government refused to exempt US soldiers from Iraqi law in the event they committed crimes—a rather imperial request to say the least. We can thus surmise that perhaps such residual occupation forces were never very vital to US security." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAccelerate a Complete Withdrawal From Afghanistan

Pepe Escobar: Towards a Snowden endgame

"The US Ambassador in Austria, William Eacho, was responsible for spreading the (false) information about Snowden being on board Bolivia President Evo Morales' Falcon - leading to the denial of overflying rights in France, Spain, Portugal an Italy. Eacho - a former CEO of a food distribution company with no diplomatic experience whatsoever - was appointed by Obama in June 2009. Why? Because he was a top Obama fundraiser. Eacho did little to disprove those who sustain that the NSA really needs to 'analyze' every phone call, email and tweet on the planet - otherwise they could never obtain such pearls of intelligence as pinpointing Snowden on Evo's plane." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Towards a Snowden endgame

Mining Stocks: Fool’s Gold or Diamonds in the Rough?

"Many junior miners are already struggling to remain profitable. We may soon see them begin to close down some of their more costly mines, spend less on exploration and invest less in general. However, as miners are forced to cut output, prices should begin to stabilize. If your appetite for risk is relatively high, you may want to consider bargain hunting in this sector. If you do decide to look more closely at mining stocks, you must remain nimble, and try to find large, relatively stable companies that pay a healthy dividend. One company that fits the bill is Newmont Mining (NEM), which has a dividend yield of 4.7 percent." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMining Stocks: Fool’s Gold or Diamonds in the Rough?

Bill Bonner: Can the Fed’s “Credit Cure” Really Work?

"The US economy reached a turning point in the 1980s. Natural, healthy, sustainable growth gave way to credit-boosted phony growth. The 'growth' of the last 30 years was not like the growth of the 30 years before it. It was not based on rising productivity, increased wages and real capital formation. Wages stagnated. The only way people could increase their standards of living was by spending money they didn't have. That's where the credit came in, made possible by America's post-1971 flexible paper money system. Spending money you don't have is one of those things that economist Herb Stein had in mind when he said, 'When something can't go on forever, it will stop.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: Can the Fed’s “Credit Cure” Really Work?

Government Student Loan Program a Scam?

"If you think the federal student-loan program looks like a bad deal for taxpayers, imagine how it would look with honest accounting. And now you don't need to imagine thanks to a new [CBO] report that's receiving far too little attention. Turns out that the official 'savings' for taxpayers of $184 billion over the next decade really add up to $95 billion in losses.' The 'scam' is that Congress has enabled a huge subsidy for universities while claiming that student loans create huge tax savings, the editorial says. It can make that claim because a 1990 law 'requires a deliberate under-counting of the cost of defaults,' the editorial says." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGovernment Student Loan Program a Scam?

Obama (Scut Farkus), Europe (Grover Dill), and Snowden (Ralphie)

"It is obvious that nobody in the highest levels of government thought through the implications of the bonehead decision of the advisor who decided that the government was going to get Edward Snowden off that plane. It never occurred to him that Snowden was not on the plane. It never occurred to him that toadies in Western Europe would resent the fact that they were exposed as toadies. Finally, he never figured out that this would enable two near-communists and the anti-American President of the number-four oil-exporting nation to the United States the opportunity to offer asylum to Snowden, when they had not had the courage to do this prior." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama (Scut Farkus), Europe (Grover Dill), and Snowden (Ralphie)

Bill Bonner: A New American Century?

"Let's talk about heroes. For thousands of years, people have sat around campfires and told the stories of their heroes. Leonidas at Thermopylae... Horatius at the bridge... Stout Cortez on a hill in Darien. But a real hero gets little notice, few poems and no statues. If he is lucky, someone lights a candle in his memory and he feels the brush of angel wings on his face. Real heroes do not don their armor to protect the realm; instead, they take up pens to criticize it. They are not defenders of the law, but lawbreakers and iconoclasts. They are not True Believers, but heretics, dissidents and corruptors of the youth. Like Sophocles. And Edward Snowden." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBill Bonner: A New American Century?

Former Federal Judge On Obama Suspending the Law

"President Obama's decision last week to suspend the employer mandate of the Affordable Care Act may be welcome relief to businesses affected by this provision, but it raises grave concerns about his understanding of the role of the executive in our system of government. Article II, Section 3, of the Constitution states that the president 'shall take Care that the Laws be faithfully executed.' This is a duty, not a discretionary power. While the president does have substantial discretion about how to enforce a law, he has no discretion about whether to do so. This matter—the limits of executive power—has deep historical roots." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFormer Federal Judge On Obama Suspending the Law